Today is the culmination of all the previous Mardi Gras celebrations, all the parades, all the bead collecting and well... craziness. Today is just one big fancy dress party... today is Fat Tuesday!

Well maybe for everyone else it started out like that... for us well... did you read yesterdays blog??? Yes we were off to rather a slow start today. Once I was up I just wanted a cup of tea and a couple of pieces of toast ( with vegemite that we had stashed in our bag ) to get me started and feeling normal again, I didn't really want to go downstairs so I rang room service and ordered.... $17 later!! What??! Really??? $17 for a pot of tea.. that's not even tea, it's a pot of hot water and a tea bag I have to put in the pot myself!!! Toast covered with glad wrap so it's soggy.......... ok, stop whingeing, eat, all will be fine once I've eaten and had my tea!!! But really??? $17????



I'll just digress here a moment and say for all the Aussies' that a motel room in the states is so different from one here... most don't have a fridge, they don't have a kettle but all have a coffee dripalator, one place had sachets of powdered milk... mmmm yum!! Don't expect a microwave, they're just not a standard motel item. Having said all that though I did manage to make a fairly decent cup of tea each morning with the coffee machine, can't start the day without my tea.



Back to Mardi Gras...... about 11am we headed out to Jax Brewery for some lunch and some serious people watching. It was really quite alot of fun sitting there in the sun watching all the people in their elaborate costumes walking by, all with a drink in hand. Seriously I'm sure some of those people would have been passed out somewhere by midafternoon cos they were 3 sheets to the wind by lunchtime! We saw a group all dressed up as lobsters and one was the lobster pot, there was Kings and Queens, jesters, clowns, hotdogs, girls in their lingerie, girls in big hooped skirts, ballet skirts, men in skirts..... what entertainment, just sitting back taking it all in was interesting.



After lunch we went back for a quick nanny nap... yes I know... Mardi Gras day and we're napping!! To tell you the truth we actually didn't see a parade all day, well we saw one as we walked back to the motel but there was no standing crying out "throw me some beads"... there was just too many people for that! and well you know... the 57 rum punches were coming back to haunt me!



So all refreshed after a nap it's off to the casino for an hour or so to have a relaxing, quiet moment and make a donation to Harrahs coffers! While I was there I had a few emails flying back and forth with "the Swedish girls", from the cruise, Tilla and Christina. We spent a bit of time with them and really enjoyed their company so had suggested we might catch up in New Orleans as they were there a few days after the cruise like us. We organised to meet at their hotel at around 6.30pm to go to The Spotted Cat, a jazz club in Frenchmen St.



Perfect timing... just as we walked up to the front door of their hotel they walked out... looking gorgeous. Both were wearing wigs, Tilla had bright orange and Christina blue topped off with a lovely feathered half mask, unfortunately I didn't get a photo of Christina cos it was so hot she took her wig off before I pulled out my camera.



We walked down to Frenchmen St, and the further we got away from the middle of the quarter the less people there was, I was thinking how nice it would be to find a lovely little jazz club away from the hustle and bustle of Bourbon St. However when we got to Frenchmen St it was even crazier than Bourbon St..... there was so many people there that we couldn't fit in the club, when a few people walked out we squeezed our way in. All of us just agreed it was pointless, too crowded, the music was great and in different circumstances would have been a great place to go.

From there we wandered back toward Bourbon St, looking for somewhere to eat. We found a bar so popped in and ordered rum punches. Looking around we noticed a lot of men.. men all cuddling and being very affectionate... not that there's anything wrong with that!! We had our drink and kept walking looking for a restaurant still. We found a nice looking place and had a lovely meal... it was great having the girls company, lots of fun and good conversation.

Now.. time to hit Bourbon St.... OMG... sooooooo many people, really just a mass of bodies all pressed together, walking through the crowd was like trying to walk through quicksand.. I actually felt somewhat claustrophobic in the middle of it. We made our way further down the street, somehow managing to stay somewhat together and not losing each other. Tilla and I did a little coaxing and begging to get a boa each... I think they just felt sorry for me!!! A bit more wandering and drinking and we said goodnight to the girls cos they had an early morning flight home... keep in touch girls cos we really enjoyed your company and wow what a great night!!

Once again I'm going to get sidetracked here to mention a few other great moments we had with the girls on the cruise.. I forgot all about this before when I was writing the cruise blog. One of the last nights on the cruise they had an adults Trivia up in the Galaxy Bar.. we went up there with Tilla and Christina and ran into Kate and Dano ( I think his name was.. also CC people but we hadn't really seen too much of them ).... it was in the form of a scavenger hunt... each team had a number and the guy running it would say " I need to see a man up here with a sock with a hole in it" so Rodd ripped off his shoes, bit a hole in his ( brand new ) sock, grabbed our team number and raced onto the stage, next one was " a woman doing the splits" so I grabbed the team number and raced out and did the splits, "a set of car keys"... hmmm who has car keys in their pocket on a cruise??? Well some people did apparently but that was one we couldn't come up with, " a woman with a tattoo in an unusual place" Tilla grabbed a woman standing next to her, after she said she had one, and raced up on stage dragging the woman along.... the best one though was "a man wearing nothing but undies, lipstick and 2 bras"... off comes Tillas bra... mine took a bit longer but off it came.. off came all Rodds clothes and on go the bras and lipstick!! Very funny night, once again though I didn't have my camera with me, DOH!

After that the entertainment crew along with the cruise director did a Burlesque show... very risque but a whole lot of fun and a whole lot of talent. The night we'd been in Cozumel at Nachi Cocum, in the spa with the girls all day we went to Peggy and Lowells cabin ( when I say cabin it was a suite.. spa bath, lounges... lots of room... cruising in style!! ) for a sailaway drink and once again Tilla and Christina were there... great company!!



At midnight the mounted police, along with the Mayor rode down Bourbon St... they ride straight through the middle of the crowd to disperse them... big horses, I wouldn't want to be under one of them.



Well that was Mardi Gras for us.... it was an interesting time... I'm glad we were there for it... would I do it again?? Probably not... just too crazy.. too many people. The next two days were lovely, getting to see the French Quarter without all the madness and mayhem.